Self-deception Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABAC DEDF GHGH IAJA GKGL GMGM NONO| Say what blinds us that we claim the glory | A |
| Of possessing powers not our share | B |
| Since man woke on earth he knows his story | A |
| But before we woke on earth we were | C |
| - | |
| Long long since undower'd yet our spirit | D |
| Roam'd ere birth the treasuries of God | E |
| Saw the gifts the powers it might inherit | D |
| Ask'd an outfit for its earthly road | F |
| - | |
| Then as now this tremulous eager Being | G |
| Strain'd and long'd and grasp'd each gift it saw | H |
| Then as now a Power beyond our seeing | G |
| Stav'd us back and gave our choice the law | H |
| - | |
| Ah whose hand that day through heaven guided | I |
| Man's blank spirit since it was not we | A |
| Ah who sway'd our choice and who decided | J |
| What our gifts and what our wants should be | A |
| - | |
| For alas he left us each retaining | G |
| Shreds of gifts which he refus'd in full | K |
| Still these waste us with their hopeless straining | G |
| Still the attempt to use them proves them null | L |
| - | |
| And on earth we wander groping reeling | G |
| Powers stir in us stir and disappear | M |
| Ah and he who placed our master feeling | G |
| Fail'd to place our master feeling clear | M |
| - | |
| We but dream we have our wish'd for powers | N |
| Ends we seek we never shall attain | O |
| Ah some power exists there which is ours | N |
| Some end is there we indeed may gain | O |
Matthew Arnold
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Self-deception is a poem by Matthew Arnold. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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